Top two escape from successful ten-man group, Vandousselaere outkicks Thomas for third

Luca Paolini (Katusha) escaped a ten-man group with Stijn Vandenbergh (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) with 25 kilometres to race in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, and the duo make it stick all the way to the line in Gent, where Paolini used his sprint to easily take down the tall Belgian. Vandenbergh still took a career result with second place.

Sven Vandousselaere (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise) got a great result for his Belgian continental squad, winning the sprint out of the eight chasers for third.

The action heated up in its usual spot, with around 50 kilometres to race on the series of Belgian Hellingen that put riders to the test in the first big one-day race of the year. Notable about this year’s edition of Het Nieuwsblad was the small size of the group that eventually worked away. Ten men consolidated a lead after the peloton had split into several parts, and though a large peloton did eventually form behind, the leading group of ten, after it had reeled in the day’s early break, was gone for good.

Containing fast men Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing), Jurgen Roelandts (Lotto-Belisol), and Geraint Thomas (Sky Procycling), at least one of these three figured to factor in to the decision of the podium. But Vandenbergh got away on the cobbled section Lippehovenstraat, and Paolini was soon on him, and the duo began to ease away from the eight men behind them. Building a maximum lead of 40 seconds over the final 25 kilometres, they was able to outlast all the chasers on the bitterly cold day in Belgium.

Vandousselaere outsprinted Thomas for third, and Van Avermaet was fifth.

"I’m absolutely happy about this win," Paolini said afterward. "It’s a very important victory for me, for Katusha and for Russia, since today is Defender of the Fatherland Day [a type of Russian Veteran's Day - ed.]. I’m very pleased to give them another reason to celebrate. It was a special triumph for me in a very prestigious competition, one of the most beautiful Belgian classics races. I felt like I was in great condition despite the cold weather, and in the end I managed to win thanks to my experience. I have to thank the whole team, they worked great. In the morning we decided the strategy, and everything went as we planned. I wanted to follow the favorites, and thanks to my current condition, I managed to.”

The Belgian Classics season gets off to a frozen start:

Temperatures around 0 degrees Celsius greeted riders at the sign-in to the first big single-day race of the year. In spite of the cold, riders were eager to jump away when the flag dropped, and though multiple attacks were sprung in the opening kilometres, nothing could stick. Andreas Schillinger (NetApp-Endura) was one of the first to try, but it was his team-mate Zak Dempster who would find the successful move.

Will Clarke (Argos-Shimano), Florian Vachon (Bretagne-Seche Environnement), Julien Fouchard and Nico Sijmens (Cofidis), Cyril Lemoine (Sojasun), Jérôme Cousin (Europcar) and Dempster broke away after 30 kilometres and were soon joined by Gatis Smukulis (Katusha) and Preben Van Hecke (Topsport Vlaanderen). The peloton finally eased up after more than 35 kilometres of racing, and the bunch would eventually cover 46 in the first hour alone.

Once the main bunch shut down the power, the group of nine had five minutes in hand, though this would prove to be their maximum advantage. Gert Dockx (Lotto-Belisol) was the first crash victim, and the 24-year-old Belgian was soon loaded into an ambulance with a suspected broken collarbone. With the opening climbs of the Leberg, Berendries, Tenbosse, and Eikenmolen out of the way, Blanco began pitching into the chase, bringing the gap down closer to four minutes.

Over the Oude Steenweg and with 80km to race, the advantage of the leaders was under four minutes, with the Valkenberg up next. Over the top, the peloton stepped on the gas heading toward Ronse, cutting a minute off of their deficit over ten kilometres. The next climb was the Kruisberg, with 66km to race, and the breakaway was now just 2’15” in front of the peloton, which had riders scrambling to stay attached at the back. Over the next few kilometres, Cousin proved himself several times to be the strongest of the breakaway, and the Europcar rider accelerated to hit the top of the Kruisberg alone.

Attrition began in the break for the first time on the Kruisberg, as Lemoine and Clarke were unhitched and subsequently dropped back to the peloton. With seven now left at the front, Lemoine had an unceremonious exit from the peloton as well, sticking his front wheel too close to a ditch and toppling into it on his right side. Matteo Trentin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) soon became another crash victim, this one at higher speeds, and leaving the young rider clutching his right wrist. With 60km to go, an IAM rider tested his legs off the front of the main bunch, but the attack was short-lived. In the break, numbers were reduced to six with the exit off the back of Bretagne’s Vachon.

Orica-GreenEdge and Blanco led proceedings into the Taainberg, but everyone stayed together over the top, with Gerald Ciolek (MTN-Qhubeka) and Yohan Offredo (FDJ) sticking their noses into the cold out front. These two helped keep the pace high over the Taaienberg, and while the split to the breakaway dropped under a minute, splits were occurring everywhere in the peloton.

Three divisions were evident in the peloton, and the groups remained separated through some narrow and winding roads off the descent of the climb. Omega Pharma-Quick Step, IAM, and BMC showed signs of wanting to push on, but they eased up as the first two splits on the road merged together. Importantly, this group, which was now around 25 or 30 riders, began to move quickly away from what had been the third split on the road. This larger group lost time to the selection ahead and would never factor in to the race going forward.

A small selection goes the distance:

With the breakaway splintering at the front, the new main bunch of 30 riders came off the Eikenberg with a growing advantage. Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) began to move away with Marco Bandiera (IAM), just as Bandiera’s team-mate Kristof Goddaert crashed hard at speed. Misreports of the fallen rider – he was initially thought to be Heinrich Haussler – were eventually uncovered as Haussler was later seen healthy at the front of a group. With 35 kilometres to the finish, the breakaway had split apart again, and Chavanel and Bandiera were rapidly closing in on them.

Eventually, four were left up front in Cousin, Fouchard, Sijmens, and Van Hecke, while Smukulis had fallen back to Chavanel and Bandiera, who were still moving forward. On the climb of the Varent, Chavanel and Bandiera had bridged to the leading quartet, while the climb spelled doom for Smukulis, so the four-man lead group had turned to six.

Meanwhile, behind, Van Avermaet had accelerated over the top of the Varent and kept the pace high, springing what would become the winning ten-man group. In the selection with Van Avermaet was Paolini, Vandenbergh, Vandousselaere, Roelandts, Thomas, Maarten Wynants (Blanco), and Egoitz Garcia (Cofidis). The anomaly that was Garcia – a Basque rider on a French team in a Belgian Classic – was a main aggressor in helping to pull the group away, as was Vandenbergh.

Ahead, Chavanel went into time trial mode and split up the exhausted group of early breakaway artists a final time, and though Cousin tried to hang on, Chavanel was soon on his own. The Van Avermaet group of ten quickly pulled themselves up to the original breakaway, when the Leberg hit, and the steepness got rid of Cousin, Van Hecke, and the Cofidis breakaway men for good. Over the top of the Leberg, Chavanel had 20 seconds on his nine new chasers, and it was 1’40” back to what was now the main peloton, which was being led by former Het Nieuwsblad winner Sebastian Langeveld and Orica-GreenEdge.

Chavanel seemed a bit unsure as to whether to attempt 40 kilometres on his own, and though he kept pushing into the Molenberg, Van Avermaet flew into the base of the next climb and had quickly pulled the group back to Chavanel. In the peloton, returning champion Sep Van Marcke (Blanco) accelerated into the Molenberg with Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) and Haussler, but the main bunch was facing a two minute disadvantage that would only get larger.

At the front, with Chavanel caught, it was ten men who were away for good: Garcia, Vandenbergh, Van Avermaet, Roelandts, Thomas, Vandousselaere, Paolini, Wynants, Bandiera, and Chavanel. Offredo attacked out of the peloton but was chased down, and the Frenchman was frustrated but a lack of cooperation in the peloton, though it was understandable with so many different teams represented in the breakaway, and FDJ not amongst it. With some of the leaders pausing to feed, Paolini tested his legs with 30km to race. Over more cobblestone sections, Garcia, Wynants, and Vandenbergh all put in long, hard turns to put the pain to the rest.

On the Lippehovenstraat, a relatively innocuous section of pavé, Vandenbergh moved forward, and with Paolini perhaps sensing some good timing, the two men got a small gap. Omega Pharma-Quick Step were the only team with multiple representatives in the group, so Chavanel sat at the back and let his lanky team-mate move away. With 25km to go, they were 15 seconds ahead, a gap that doubled over the next five kilometres. After the penultimate cobbled section, the Lange Munte, Paolini and Vandenbergh had pulled out 40 seconds, and though Van Avermaet and company eventually had it whittled down to 25 ticks, it seemed to be their final effort, and the gap was once again 40 seconds with less than 10km to go.

On the final section of cobbles, the Steenakker, Vandenbergh accelerated into and out of the rough stretch of road, but Paolini was glued to his wheel. The Italian was led into the final kilometer by the Belgian. With time to kill, the duo soft-pedaled under the one-kilometre banner, while Van Avermaet attacked the chasers looking for third.

Paolini ended up kicking early, but Vandenbergh was clearly exhausted, and though he put up a worthy fight, the superior sprinter was Paolini, who had plenty of time to sit up and savor the shivery victory. Vandousselaere also went long for third place, just managing to hold off Thomas for the final podium spot.